The Walking Deth - Part IV

Here and Home - Chapter IV

Hangman's Noose

Beth had slept naked beside me every night since we had come here. She had little choice, seeing as she only had the jeans, sweater, dress and panties she had come in.

Anything other than intimate cuddling had never crossed my mind, as every night she had slept tucked under my arm, sobbing herself to sleep against my chest.

Last night she had gone to sleep with a smile on her lips, her steady and relaxed breath puffing through the hair on my chest, her leg wrapped over my hip and her hand cupped over my bicep.

I still wasn't thinking about anything but intimate cuddling, but I got a kick out of how satin-like her skin felt under my hardened fingers. It was like a salve for all of my lifetime of wounds.

I trailed my fingers across her collarbones, over her smooth rounded shoulder, over the ripples of flesh on her ribs, down to the skin that drew taut over her jutting hip, then down further to between her legs, my fingers resting tangled in her soft curls.

She flinched and pulled her knees together. "Don't." She whispered.

"I wasn't." I insisted. "I'm just touchin' you. I like the way you feel." I moved forward to kiss her forehead, but she squirmed away from me.

"Just don't. I…have to go to the bathroom." She kicked back the blankets and flew across the room and into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, making the boat painting nearby on the wall quiver.

"That bad, hey?" I called out after her.

All I heard was a groan in reply.

I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled over to the bathroom door to press my ear up to it. It sounded like she was sobbing again.

After the way she was last night I thought she had moved past the uncontrollable sobbing stage. Not that I expected her to get over the kids within a week, it just seemed whenever I thought she was improving, she would start falling backwards again.

"You okay?" I called through the door, testing the handle to find it was locked.

"I'm fine!" She snapped back, sounding more angry than miserable. "Don't come in!"

I scanned over the room trying to think of some way I could avoid going out today so I could stay with her, but Carson had made it clear that I needed to do both shifts, every day, if both Beth and I wanted to eat.

Resolved there was nothing I could do that wouldn't later be used against me by Negan, I called back through the door. "I gotta go soon Beth."

"So go!"

"…can I 'least see you're okay?"

I heard an impatient sigh travel through the painted timber. "I told you I'm okay, so I'm okay."

I tried one more attempt at seeing her before I left, "Can I use the bathroom?"

"Use the one downstairs!"

"…okay. You gonna be 'right?"

"Just go, Daryl!"

I turned back to my pile of leather and denim on the floor and tugged my gear on, muttering under my breath about the moodiness of women.

Stalling a little longer I checked and re-checked my Busse and Airborne and then wary of missing my shift I headed to the door.

"I'm goin' now." I called back toward the bathroom, my hand resting on the handle to the entry door.

After a moment of silence I sighed in defeat and tugged down on the handle.

"I love you." I heard Beth call as I stepped out.

I smirked, "I love you too."

"What did one eye say to the other?"

I let out a long loud groan, knowing another one of Wally's terrible jokes was coming.

"Just between you and me, something smells." He chuckled to himself, his barrel chest rumbling and thick shoulders shaking.

"That's god awful." I tried to resist the smile that was tugging at my lips. He didn't need encouragement.

"So is the smell." He nodded towards the mass of chained and impaled walkers brushing against the line of concrete barriers.

Awful didn't even begin to describe the smell. Now that it was past noon, the sun baked stench was at its peak. The ones closer to the concrete barricades smelt the least, merely dry skin dangling off bones. The ones further out were fresher, with the smell of blood and flesh and entrails warming and evaporating into the air. I was glad for the scent of charred tobacco from my cigarette that masked at least some of the smell.

The stench kept everyone inside the hotel, except for those who had to go on runs, or man the fence line, as we were. These walkers, unlike Michonne's pets, still had their teeth and arms, so they were more of a threat to the living than a deterrent to other walkers, and something about that made me think they were about keeping people in just as much as keeping people out.

"My granddaughter liked my jokes." Wally broke through my thoughts, while examining a particularly active walker that was grasping towards us as we strolled past.

"Well I ain't a seven year old girl."

"No, you aren't." He chuckled weakly, with sadness in his eyes. "Truth is I don't think she liked them either, think she was just humouring her old grandpa."

I took a drag on my cigarette and continued walking, keeping my eyes on the crowd of walkers, leaving him to his moment of melancholy memory.

"She was my way of making up for being the asshole father to my son that I was." He finally spoke up, as he stopped to examine another male walker who was pulling against his chains trying to reach us, jaws snapping against the open air. "I wish I could've had the chance to make it up to him though. I wish he never left me. Family is everything, you know?" He turned to look at me. "You have other family out there, besides 'The kid'?"

My heart clenched at the thought of everyone I had lost, and everyone I wanted to get back to.

"Yep." I muttered. "Had a brother. He died almost a year ago now."

"Gnasher get 'im?"

I nodded. "…And we had a group of people we had been with since the start of the turn. Beth's sister and a few others."

Wally groaned in understanding. "They the ones you tryin' to get to?"

"Mmm Hmm." I mumbled around my cigarette.

"I doubt they're in Washington. That place has been crawling with gnashers for a while now. But there are a few other survivor camps out there. They could be in one of them."

I blew out a puff of menthol flavoured smoke. "I've been tryin' to get on the trading crew, so I can check out some of the other camps."

Wallace mumbled a thoughtful sound, "Maybe I can talk to the boss, get 'im to take you out with 'em this afternoon."

I looked up to his grey eyes surrounded by crinkled, leathery skin. "That'd be cool. Thanks, man."

"What's your plan when you find 'em? You gonna try to bring 'em back here?"

I shook my head, "Don't think so. Sooner we're out of here the better."

Wally furrowed his brow. "Don't think anyone's ever tried to leave before. I can tell you now there isn't a place like ours out there."

I dropped my cigarette to the ground and stomped on it to extinguish the glowing embers. "Negan came into our room last night when I was out. Scared Beth." I turned to watch Wally's reaction, "Do you think she's gonna be safe with him around?"

Wally shrugged his shoulders. "He's got his code when it comes to the ladies. Word is when this all started he was out with his wife and best friend. Caught them sleeping together, killed the friend. And the wife…well…she isn't here."

"So what? He got a broken heart so now he's gotta bone every girl he meets?"

Wally chuckled at my implication "He's got messed up ideas on how relationships work, but he respects the vows of marriage, the vows of loyalty."

I scoffed, "How could he respect loyalty? He's got three wives and he's still chasin' tail."

Wally raised his shoulders and turned out his hand in an exaggerated display of uncertainty. "I did say he has some messed up ideas. All I know is he made Sherry ─ the first girl he married from this lot─ divorce her husband before he touched her. He won't touch a married woman." Wally gave me a gentle nudge on the shoulder and smirked. "My advice; if you really want to keep 'The kid' safe, you should marry 'er."

"I ain't about to marry Beth just so some dumbass will keep his hands off 'er. I ain't provin' nothin' to no-one but Beth, and Beth would want me to marry 'er for more than that."

Wally stopped in his tracks and turned to face me, "Look, he has plenty of girls to keep him busy. Scaring 'the kid' would've just been a bit of fun for him; a demonstration of his power. If you stay on his good side, you shouldn't have any problems."

I mumbled agreement, even though I felt the only way to stay on his good side was to stay out of his way all together.

Wally chucked me on the shoulder playfully. "Why didn't the gnasher cross the road?"

I groaned.

"'Cause he didn't have any guts." Wally chuckled to himself again.

I shook my head condescendingly, "That really is…a stinker."

It had been the first time I had done a shift at the hotel since coming to this place. I usually swapped shifts at the various outposts spotted over the place. This was the first time I had the opportunity to stop by the room during the day.

It had been bugging me my entire shift that I had left Beth in misery that morning, and every morning, and I thought it would be a relief to see her, even if it was only for a moment.

I knocked on the door and was angered that she opened it immediately, without even taking enough time to check who it was. I closed the door behind me and was ready to growl at her when she pounced on me, wrapping her arms and legs around me and mauling my lips with her teeth. It was a complete contrast to the way I had left her this morning.

I had to tear my face away from hers to catch a breath. "Girl, you're more confusing than a Japanese crossword written in reverse!"

She flashed her pearly white teeth at me. It was a brilliant smile I hadn't seen since we were back at the school. "I'm feelin' real good about today." She dropped her feet to the floor and started tugging my shirt up. "Somethin's gonna happen. You're gonna get a lead on the others."

"Hold up, girl, I only got a minute." I weakly resisted, pushing her hands away.

"It'll only take a minute." She nipped at my bottom lip. It hurt. Hurt good.

Not wanting to waste any more time arguing, I tugged my Airborne off my shoulder, dropped it to the ground and finished the job of removing my shirt, while she slipped out of her new pale blue tee.

She rushed into me again, slamming me back into the door, and forced her hand past my belt and straight down my pants grabbing around my cock that was just starting to firm up.

I frantically tore at the buckles of her belt trying to keep up with her pace and she pried at my belt as I ripped hers out and tugged down her jeans so she could kick them off.

With my jeans finally around my ankles, I lifted her up by the thighs and turned her around forcing her back into the door for extra support.

She let out a high pitched squeal, and threw her head back against the door with a thud as I slid my way into her. Her legs wrapped me in a vice, so that she was the one controlling the movement, rocking and rolling her hips over me as she moaned and groaned into my ear.

All I could do was stand there and enjoy the sensation, resting a hand against the door to steady myself as she commandeered my cock. I tried to focus more on the pleasure than the thoughts of who could hear us outside the door.

It couldn't have been much more than a minute of her grinding herself against me before my skin was tingling, my head was spinning, my nuts were going tight, and I knew I was just about ready to blow my load. I tried to pull out of her, but she locked her legs around me even tighter.

"Beth!" I groaned as I continued my attempt to pry her away before it was too late.

Then there was a loud thumping at the door, and I almost dropped her as her legs suddenly loosened their grip.

"Sorry about the fuckus interruptus." It was the irritatingly over-confident voice of Negan. "Sounded like it was getting pretty fucking good too."

"What d' you want?" I barked at the door, my almost-ready-to-blow dick immediately softening at the sound of his voice.

Beth must have lost the moment too, as she wriggled off my legs, ducked under my arms and started crawling on the floor grabbing up her clothes.

"That old fucker Wallace says you wanted to come on a trade run today."

I rolled my eyes and looked down to Beth who looked just as annoyed by the interruption as I was.

"Yeah." I called back through the door as I reached down to pull up my jeans.

"Well wash your dick off and meet me downstairs. In the lounge."

One of Negan's ass sniffing henchmen, Chris, was standing by the door of the lounge waiting for me. As I approached he grinned knowingly at me, and then swiped his card on the reader causing the door to click signifying it was unlocked.

The sound of high pitched tittering of women laughing and the lower rumbling of men talking, drifted through the closed door of the members lounge. I half expected to see what I did when I opened the door.

The view before me consisted of a buck naked woman dancing on the stage, gyrating and dipping her hips. The apathetic look on her face, and the lack of music making it seem even more seedy. There was a single girl at each of the three sofas, surrounded by a group of men with their dirty hands all over them. It reminded me of the bars Merle used to drag me to when I was younger. The type gave me the creeps then, and even more so now.

"Daryl." My skin crawled at the sound of Negan's voice. I wondered if Wally had told him my real name. I preferred it when he knew me only as Wyatt.

I turned to face him, he was sitting by the bar, whiskey glass in hand, a busty topless girl with golden brown hair perched on his knee.

He waved me over. "Come have a drink with me."

I shook my shoulders trying to shift the sensation of bugs crawling under my skin, and walked over to him.

I took the stool next to him, trying to avoid the pair of large dark nipples that were right in front of my face, my eyes falling to the bat that leant against Negan's stool, covered in rust-stained twisted and spiked wire.

Something ground against the table and I raised my eyes to the glass that Negan was pushing my way.

"Drink it." He urged "Let me get to know you better."

I took the glass and downed the whiskey in one swig, hoping it would settle my nerves, and then returned my eyes to the bat.

"Meet, Honey." He nudged the girls arm and she held it out to me.

"Hi." I said flicking my eyes up to her and then back down.

"I called her Honey, 'cause I can't remember her fucking name."

"It's Audrina." Audrina insisted.

"See, forgotten it already." Negan chuckled to himself, before taking a sip of his whiskey, and then urging; "Look at her titties, Daryl."

"I'm right." I squirmed a little on the stool, hoping this game he was playing would be over soon.

"C'mon Daryl, no harm in looking. Beth is fine as fuck but she's lacking a bit in the titty department."

I glanced up at her tits. "Yep, nice."

"Touch 'em." He urged.

I glared past Audrina and to his slimy smiling face. "I ain't touchin' nothin'."

"Go on. Honey don't mind do you Honey?" Audrina shook her head. "She isn't married." Negan went on. "She's anyone's game." He leered at me, lifting his eyebrows suggestively.

"No thankyou." I insisted.

I looked to my empty glass on the table hoping the bar tender would get the point and pour me another drink so I might be able to gain some control of my nerves before I punched him.

Negan took Audrina by the chin and turned her face towards me. "How many men have touched your titties today, Honey?"

"I don't know. Six or Seven." She replied nonchalantly.

"See it means nothing to her, so just touch them."

I shook my head.

Negan sighed in what seemed like frustration. "You've offended her Daryl. Honey only has one job to do around here, and you're not letting her do it. We all have jobs to do. Bartenders, cleaners, runners, scouts. But there's no job for a teacher." He sniggered to himself. "You have a job around here too. In fact you have two, if you want to take care of your girl… And both of those jobs involve you being able to take orders." He smiled at me as understanding began to show on my face. "You can take orders, right Daryl?"

I knew what this was all about. He was trying to show me what kind of work he had planned for Beth, if I couldn't follow orders, and therefore couldn't work. I thought back to when we had first been rescued. When Wally had told us we could go, but only with what we were carrying. I wondered how long we would last out there with no heading, and no weapons but a couple of knives and a hand gun with ten rounds.

I reluctantly nodded.

"So touch her titties."

I clenched one fist by my side and held the other hand out in front of me, an inch away from her tit.

Negan gave Audrina a nudge and she moved forward until her tit filled my hand. It felt like a warm bag of Jell-O. I snapped my hand back, thinking of Beth. I liked her small firm tits that fit perfectly in the palm of my hand, and didn't wobble all over the place every time she moved.

"There. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

I glared at him and slowly shook my head, my dagger throwing eyes not leaving his.

"And now I know you can follow orders, which means you can come on a trade run with me."

I needed to get Beth away from this manipulative, nut-job freak. If I didn't get some kind of lead on the others today, then Beth and I were just going to have to take our chances out there on our own, armed or not.

We took a convoy of a large truck, two pick-ups, a suburban and a mini-van, and drove around thirty minutes west of the hotel, to where the buildings gave way to green hills and open pastures, dotted with the odd walker rather than cattle.

We pulled down a dirt driveway and towards a white ranch style farm house that was surrounded by tents and trailer homes, and pens filled with what looked to be pigs. The place was fenced off by a makeshift barrier of wooden and metal posts dug into the ground with barbed wire wrapped between them.

There were around ten or so walkers milling around the fence, some of them attached to the barbs by their clothing or skin. There were a few more dotted around the surrounding paddocks.

Without even leaving the road, the crew I was with started opening fire on the walkers, putting them all down within minutes, and then we rolled on towards a large wire mesh gate, manned by two timid looking spotty faced teenagers, who looked less than happy to see us.

The cars were driven in and parked in a line by the fence, and we all jumped out and walked towards the crowd of people that was spilling out the front door of the ranch house. I gave them a quick scan trying to look for a familiar face, but they were all worn-out looking strangers.

Negan instructed the men to drop the gate to the truck, and then strutted over to the huddle of people, swinging his bat around with one hand and waving to myself and a few others to follow with the other.

He stopped before a grey haired man dressed with mucked up boots, denim overalls, flax hat and a terrified look on his face.

Negan took the bat in two hands and swung it slow, and exaggerated through the air, clearly trying to intimidate the harmless looking farmer. "My bacon shipment was light last week, Kenneth."

"I'm sorry, Negan." Kenneth mumbled. "We gave you all we could spare, our sows didn't come to farrow as much this season."

Negan continued to swing his bat. "I know you said you were having a bit of trouble with supplying our demand, but I gave you people weeks to come up with the goods. Fucking weeks. And all we got was six fucking skinny runts." He sighed in false frustration. "You know the deal. We kill the gnashers, you supply the bacon. Our services don't come for free."

It didn't seem like a fair deal, the walkers I saw surely could have been handled by the people here.

Kenneth replied nervously, "Yes, but we can't make the sows farrow. What we have is what we have."

Negan waved his arm across the pig pens, and to the snorting pink bodies snuffling through the mud. "I see a lot of fucking bacon out there."

"They're our breeding stock."

"And how is that a fucking problem?"

"Well, if we give what we have, we'll have nothing to breed with, and there will be no pigs for next time."

Negan turned his head over his shoulder towards Troy, one of his tall, bulky henchmen. "Bring the rope."

Troy smiled slyly and then turned back to his pick-up and pulled a thick coil of rope out, draping it over his shoulder.

Negan turned back to Kenneth. "I know how this shit works. You only need one pig with a dick, so he can fuck all the bitch pigs. Give me all the rest."

My eyes slipped back to Troy who marched over to the house, unravelled an end of the rope and wrapped it around his wrist until it was in a tight bundle, and then tossed it up towards the exposed rafters of the porch. The first time it hit the sheet metal roofing and came straight back into his hands. The second time it slipped through the gap between the roof and the front cross beam and fell back down on the other side.

"But if I do that, we won't have enough diversity in the breeding stock, the future generations will be deformed." Kenneth continued to reason.

Troy began winding the rope around his hand and forming what looked like a large slip knot.

"I don't care how pretty it is, I just want to eat it."

"But Negan…" Kenneth's voice trailed off as he examined the hangman's noose that was swaying gently from side to side dangled from the rafters of the porch.

I turned to the men and women standing beside me, their faces stone cold as they watched the scene in front of them.

"N…N…Negan." Kenneth stuttered. "W…w…we can work s…s…something out."

"I like my bacon. It's my fucking favourite." Negan paced back and forth in front of the line of terrified people, his bat over his shoulder. "Which one of these people is your favourite, Kenneth?"

"Y…you can have the pigs, Negan, we only need one male like you said."

"I know what I can fucking have and what I fucking can't, but you were going to take away my favourite food. I want you to know what it feels like to be told you can't have something you really, fucking want."

He reached forward and grabbed a kid by the collar of his shirt. He didn't look much older than Carl, or much younger than Beth.

"This one is your son isn't it?" Negan asked as he jiggled the bean pole kid around by the collar of his shirt.

"Y…yes." Kenneth replied.

"Is he your favourite?"

"N…No."

"So now you're fucking lying to me?"

"N…no I don't have a favourite."

"Bullshit." Negan barked.

He shoved the kid in the direction of Troy. "String him up." He ordered.

"What's he doin'?" I asked Chris, standing to my right.

His only response was "Shhh!"

Troy looped the rope over the kid's terrified looking face, and tightened the noose around his neck.

"He kills kids?" My voice was tight in apprehension now.

"Just watch." Chris muttered back.

So I did. I watched as Troy took the other end of the rope and began tugging it backward lifting the kid a few inches off the ground. The kid kicked his feet around, his boots skimming along the timbers of the porch as he tried to get a footing and his fingers tugged at the loop of rope around his neck. His face was a shade of tomato mixed with wild grape, spittle forming on his lips as he tried to gasp for breath. A woman's wails ran shrill through the air; I assumed it was his mother.

Kenneth dropped to his knees before Negan. "Please. We'll double the tithe. We'll triple it."

Negan pointed over to the large truck with the ramp down. "I want to see that truck filled with my bacon, in say…" He glanced back toward the crowd of his henchmen behind me. "How long does it take for a hanged man to die?"

"As little as thirty seconds." Someone called back.

"You better fucking hurry!" Negan called to the already scrambling bodies as they scattered towards the pig pens.

They opened the gates and began herding the fat and slow animals out of the pens, panicking as they ran wild. It was like a scene from a clown show as they jumped on pigs and grabbed at their feet and dragged them, frantically trying to get them on the truck.

"Your kid's looking kinda blue." Negan called out above the panicked shrieks and cries and squeals of pigs.

I looked to the kid, his face bright purple now, his feet still. It had already been more than thirty seconds. He wasn't going to last as long as it would take to get those animals on the truck.

Could I let something like this slide?

I scanned over the group of panicked survivors. They looked just like we did back at Beth's farm. The hanging kid looked just like Carl.

There was a loud thump, and surprised cry as Troy fell heavily to the porch. The blue kid fell beside him gasping and clawing at his throat. The threads of the rope dangling from the kid's neck unfurling slowly.

On the side panelling of the porch, one of my arrows was embedded, still quivering from the force of impact.

Everyone was silent. Even the mother who had been wailing seconds before. I turned from the sight of the boy huddled on the ground to the crowd of people standing still as statues, who all had their eyes on me. I scanned over their dumbfounded faces until Negan filled my view.

His dark eyes were full of malice, but his square cheeks were raised, and on his lips was a sickening, pleased grin.

The sound of Negan's deep rumbling voice singing along with a country western song on the radio echoed throughout the cab of the tuck and made my guts clench in anticipation.

He hadn't said a word to me since I had saved the kid, except when he told me to sit in the truck with him. And now he was smiling and singing and acting like I hadn't done anything wrong, but I knew I had.

When I spotted the hotel in the distance, he turned down the music and looked to me with a grin still on his face.

"Do you think I got to this place by being stupid?" He asked without losing his grin.

I shook my head, not sure what answer he was looking for.

"Do you think I would actually kill a fucking kid? What kind of sick fuck do you think I am?"

"He was seconds away from death." I muttered.

"So? I had seconds to cut him down. You didn't need to fucking intervene. You shouldn't have fucking intervened."

I chewed the side of my nail and turned to look out the window. I knew there wasn't anything I could say to make him re-think whatever punishment he had planned for me. I hoped it was just a beating, a beating I could handle. If he was taking away our food, it meant Beth would suffer and I didn't want that.

"I thought we bonded over titties this afternoon." He crooned with false disappointment. "And now you've gone and made me look fucking stupid. Now my pig suppliers are going to lose all fucking respect for me."

I glanced back at him, my face screwed up in irritation. "You want me to say I'm sorry or somethin'?"

Negan chuckled. "You're not sorry. Yet."

I didn't like the way he said yet. I could sense a cruel and unusual punishment brewing.

"Look Negan, I appreciate you takin' us in, and feedin' us and what not, but I can see you and I do things differently. I'm thinkin' it may be better if Beth and I just move on. You can keep the bike and the bows as payment. We'll just take ourselves out of your hair."

Negan sneered. "You think I'm worried about payment?"

I shrugged.

"For one thing. All your shit is already mine. The second thing, despite what it may look like, this isn't a fucking holiday camp. Once you come, you don't leave."

I dropped the hand that was fiddling by the side of my face and glared at him.

"What're we your prisoners now?"

"No. Not prisoners. But you're never fucking leaving. Even when you're dead, we'll chain you to the fence." He chuckled lightly. "I know you think I'm fucking stupid, but I'm not. You know where we are, what we have, our numbers, our fucking weaknesses. What's to stop you from joining up with one of my disgruntled customers and taking over everything I've worked so fucking hard to keep?"

I waved my hand to the scenery outside the window, the hotel now taking up most of the view.

"We don't even know no-one out there. We ain't even got a place to go to. Beth and I aren't a threat."

"But you fucking are Daryl!" he had dropped his friendly façade and was now growling angrily. "Everyone who isn't with us is fucking against us. You're staying right fucking here, and you're living by my fucking rules!"

I tensed my jaw in frustration, just wanting to kill the guy right here and now, but scared what would happen to Beth if I failed.

"And you're gonna be punished for stepping out of line today."

My insides felt like they were going to explode out my chest, my whole body was throbbing and tingling with adrenaline.

"And you're not gonna make a big fucking fuss about it, or you'll find your girl gets the same treatment."

Negan wound down the window to scan his card against the reader. The gate opened and he rolled through stopping beside a man by the gate.

"Get everyone down in the laundry room." Negan said to him, his cheerful tone returning. "And heat up the press."

A/N: If you're a comic book reader you'll be pooping your pants again right about now...